This is scientific Americans 60 second science. I'm Karen Hopkins. Got a minute?

When you think of a leader, you may think of an individual who is above all bold.

But a new study of fish called sticklebacks

shows that shy individuals actually prefer to follow fish that are

similarly timid.

Researchers had trios of sticklebacks

with known personalities play follow the leader.

The fish were placed in a tank that had some plastic plants at one end and some food hidden

at the other.

In some of the groups, a bold fish and a shai fish acted as leaders, while another shy fish followed.

In other groups, it was a bold fish that did the following.

The researchers recorded whether the follower sallied forth more frequently with the fish that was behaviorally similar or the one that was different.

What they found is that shy fish were more likely to emerge from undercover

when an equally wary fellow was already out there.

Bold follower fish did not seem to care as much which leader they followed.

Of course, no matter which fish a stickleback chose to stick with,

the bold fish did lead more joint expeditions over the course of the experiment than

their more retiring friends. That's because the boldfish initiated more trips, regardless

of who might be tailing them. The findings are in the journal biology letters. The researchers write that when offered a choice of leaders

Sticklebacks prefer to follow individuals whose personality matches

their own but bolder individuals may nevertheless be able to impose their leadership, even among shy followers, simply through greater effort.

We may soon see if such tendencies also hold true in humans when Americans decide who they'll follow in November unless of

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